Beef Barley Soup

It's definitely soup season now.  The temperatures have been dropping down towards 0 degrees at night and flu is starting to make the rounds.  I've been using my Instant Pot every weekend and I made this soup in under an hour yesterday.  It's so good.  Today I'm going to freeze some so I can have easy weeknight meals in the coming weeks.  


Instant Pot Beef Barley Soup

1# Beef stew meat
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
5 cups water
1 - 16 oz can stewed tomatoes, crush before adding
2 cups carrots, I used frozen
2 tbsp celery flakes
1/2 cup pearled barley
1 tbsp beef Better Than Boullion
1 tbsp parsley
Salt & pepper to taste (also season the beef while cooking)

Heat the olive oil on the saute mode.  Brown the seasoned beef (in batches).  As the final batch is browning, add in the onions and garlic to cook.  Cancel the saute.  Add in the rest of the ingredients.  Hit the meat/stew button and you are set.  I used this button over the soup/broth so the meat was extra tender.